Marc Ganz

I was working BLS with another EMT who had been working for about a year. We got a call for respiratory distress. When we got there I could see things were not going well. He was sweating and breathing with great difficulty. I put him on oxygen and braught him into my ambulance. I noticed immediately he stopped breathing and was unresponsive. As my partner began to freeze I checked for a pulse. I told my partner our patient was in cardiac arrest. He looked at me in bewilderment, what do I do? I told him to call for backup and start compressions as I began with the AED an airway. We were sent a BLS backup and went to the closest hospital with a notification. By the time we had gotten to the hospital I had taken over compressions and continued as we rolled into the trauma room. The nurses and physicians began their work up as I continued compressions. A sonogram was done to see if there was any heart activity. I was told to do one more round of compressions before calling it. After I finished my last round the pt had a pulse and was eventually taken to CCU. My partners and I were relieved we did everything we can to help this patient. Later my partner told me he froze up because he never had a cardiac arrest and wanted to know how I worked so well under pressure. I said I could hear my instructors voice in my head every step of the way. I want to THANK YOU JOE AND THE REST OF ECP FOR EVERYTHING. It is because of you and the ECP staff and the entire program that I was able to help this pt to the best of my ability. Like you always said there’s no time to think in these situations. It’s because of how you planted everything in our heads that really prepared me for my first real emergency. Thank you!